Blood Music

[digitaldiscipline]

This has nothing to do with swashbuckling feminine hygeine products. Cavalorn and Marchenland have that link if you're so inclined.

So, in the course of blowing my week off in the service of home repair, gardening, and general physical maintenance, I had a physical, with a followup to get my blood drawn for this, that, and the other.

This and that looked great...
- Total cholesterol: 158 [<200 is recommended]
- LDL: 62 [<100]
- HDL: 40
- LDL:HDL: ~1.5:1 [<5:1]

The other... not so much.
- Triglycerides: 279 [<150]

Per Wikipedia:

Reducing triglyceride levels
Cardiovascular exercise and low-moderate carbohydrate diets containing essential fatty acid are recommended for reducing triglyceride levels. When these fail, fish oils, fibrate drugs, niacin, and some statins are registered for reducing triglyceride levels. Prior alcohol intake can cause elevated levels of triglycerides, and reducing alcohol intake is routinely recommended in patients with high triglyceride levels. [emphasis mine]

I'll file this under "Well, no shit." [Part of me is morbidly curious as to what my workup during the dark days in Pennsyltucky would have looked like.]

So, it's pushups instead of hitting The 'Pine for yours truly from here on out.

Comments

[david-deacon.livejournal.com]

My doctor recently put me on one gram of Omacor four times a day because of high triglycerides. Omacor is a capsule of prescription-strength, very pure, omega-3 fatty acids. You might want to look into it. Trouble is, even with insurance co-pay, it still costs $1 per capsule, making a month's worth cost *gulp* $120.

It would be cheaper to just die, actually.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Depends how long you plan on living, I suppose. How much is a decent casket and a tractor rental?

[david-deacon.livejournal.com]

Tractor rental?

Seriously, I wasn't spending $120/month on alcohol to begin with. It would be cheaper just to drink myself to death.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

you ever dig a grave by hand? i'm gonna rent a 15hp bobcat to do it.

[xany.livejournal.com]

So, it's pushups instead of hitting The 'Pine for yours truly from here on out.

that reminds me -- after your mention of it on Saturday, I attempted to do some 1-arm pushups.

I got 12 with my right arm, and 2 with my left.

somewhere, Jack Palance is laughing.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

dude.

I can't get far enough down, with either arm, to make one count by my reckoning. props to you.

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

just switching to whole grains and cutting out high fructose corn syrup-stuff will make a difference. when i met my husband, we were both pretty heavy drinkers (whisky/beer vs dinner? easy choice). anyway, his triglycerides were over 400. after two years of living with my healthy-eating self, his count went below 150. also, he pretty much stopped drinking. which would explain why my triglycerides are still around 160-170... i like beer.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I suspect, had it been one more day between my last cocktail and my bloodwork, it might have been a different story, but, still... it's empty calories, and tough on the various systems (though it's got it's attractions in both the expected and unexpected ways). *shrug*

[ladysoleil.livejournal.com]

My triglycerides are probably laughing and flipping everyone off. Last time I got all the bloodwork done everything came up normal, but you reminded me I should go get it all done again before my health insurance changes over and I'll be out of pocket for the bloodwork.

So, thanks for the rant, it was motivational.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Given how low my cholesterol is, there's probably a genetic component to my score as well, but, in all seriousness, it's probably just as well that I don't drink like I did ten years ago.

Plus, I feel inadequate when K has both the best ass -and- the best abs in the relationship. ;-)

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Lopid 600mg (Generic: Gemfibrozil). One tablet twice daily.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Require a scrip?

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

If you want to attempt the OTC route, there's Garlic Capsules/Pills (which I don't recommend because of their high lipid solubility -- you end up smelling heavily of garlic) and also Niacin, aka B-6 (which can cause subcutaneous flushing, but that can headed off if you take either an extended release form (so your body has reduced (but prolonged) exposure, or take aspirin 30 minutes prior).

Niacin raises HDL and lowers Triglycerides. It will lower LDL to some extent. Garlic lowers total, LDL and Triglycerides.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I have no problem smelling like garlic, and K thinks it's cute when it's not overwhelming (as after having her garlic and white wine chicken for dinner); is there a sufficient amount of Niacin in a one-a-day multi to be useful, or should this be an additional supplement?

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Update: To clarify the above posting, Niacin is B-3, not B-6. Sorry about that. Continuing onward with our regularly scheduled commentary:

Negative. Additional Supplement. Otherwise everyone would be awfully uncomfortable with taking their daily vitamin.

Here's what one website had to say about dosing:
DOSING: The recommended oral dose of immediate release niacin for treating high cholesterol levels in adults is 1-2 g two to three times daily. The maximum recommended dose is 6 g daily. When using extended release tablets, the maximum recommended dose is 2 g per day. Niacin should be started at low doses and increased slowly over several weeks. To avoid stomach upset, niacin should be taken with meals.

Extended release tablets should be swallowed whole and should not be crushed or chewed. Extended release formulations should not be substituted with equivalent doses of immediate release niacin since this leads to an overdose of niacin that may cause liver failure.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

does your current employer carry such phylacteries?

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you can get Niacin and Extended Release Niacin (Slo-Niacin) OTC at any pharmacy. Most health stores will have it too.